Anchoring practice and using CCR Genoa

Trip dates: 
Monday, May 20, 2024
Trip length: 
1 day
Type of watercraft: 
Sail

Very light wind day, set out anchor for the first time in Whitehall bay.  With no wind, difficult to judge how well set we were but our transit stayed steady and the boat didn’t move on chartplotter.  Discovered that windlass didn’t grasp the rope part of rode.  Reading on the internet there is a “pressure lever” on side of windlass that should make it grab better. Will try at the dock.  Also tried to let out the “low wind” sail, the genoa on the most forward forestay.  It was a real pain to crank it out, and it wouldn’t come all the way because as I unfurled it by pulling on the genoa sheet the furler drum was so full that I couldn’t pull it all the way out.  This needs to be adjusted.  Docking was awkward, but we had some help from Lynn.  Because we're nxious about backing in, I’ve tried to just pull the boat in using the friendship line as soon as stern is near enough the piling for me to grab it, but that doesn’t work well as the off center pull tends to angle the boat.  Need to practice the backing up slowly and use throttle to stop boat when needed.